Formerly the non-partisan watchdog of the 2010 US Census, and currently an opinion blog that covers all things political, media, foreign policy, globalization, and culture…but sometimes returning to its census/demographics roots.

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Robert M. Groves to update the media today…

Of course the PR and spin forces will be at work, but hopefully the media does its best to fight them…please leave your questions for Dr. Groves in the comments section. I will live-blog this event later today:

What:
U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert M. Groves will brief the media on the status of 2010 Census operations. One month into the door-to-door follow-up phase of operations, Groves will provide updates on America’s progress in responding to the 2010 Census. He will offer his views on where we are in the process and look ahead to future field operations. The briefing will include a media question-and-answer session.

6 Responses to “Robert M. Groves to update the media today…”

Many residents, even some citizens, of our large (God knows when we’ll get a credible population count) country have technical knowledge of computer systems and databases. Can you give us a technical description of the PBOCS problems?

Has the failure to enforce the law requiring residents to answer the census made a farce of the 2010 Census?

We know of James O’Keefe’s reputation regarding fact and fiction. Everyone has a personal opinion.

The Census count is “off track” and not accurate. The public has been trying to tell us this — especially with NRFU operations. My entire apartment building (including myself) mailed in our Census forms the day after we received them. A couple of days ago, our entire building had NV notices on our doors! The LCO and Enumerator said the we were listed as “no response”! The public is fed up with seeing us return time and time again for the same information. Fact or fiction? What is happening to the completed mailed in Census forms, completed EQs, etc.? Why are CL and CLA erasing info on completed EQ forms, writing in different info than what the respondent gave us?

Someone ask him if it is true they will try to wind down operations in the next few weeks and end NRFU early. (possibly because it is over budget) I heard a rumor from my crew leader in Manhattan that they flew in people from Denver Regional Area and put them up in hotel rooms to help us wind down.

A meter reader came up to when I was enumerating a house yesterday. He said his entire apartment complex did not receive census forms in the mail. I asked if anyone had come by within the past month and knocked on his door – he said “no”. I told him that it was best to call the Telephone Center for the Census on the website. I didn’t have the number with me. They could take his info on the phone. I told him to tell his apartment manager and neighbors to do the same.

Please explain why you felt it was necessary to hire over 600,000 enumerators when clearly a third of that number (200,000) could have done the work in the 8-weeks allotted for the door-to-door phase of Census 2010?

If he seems stumped by the questions perhaps you can suggest the following answers:

* by over hiring the government was able to make the unemployment numbers look much better than they actually are

* the government likes wasting taxpayer money (I would estimate the fully loaded cost of onboarding 400,000 non-necessary employees, including four days of training each, at roughly $0.5B — and that is most likely conservative).

* the government is grossly incompetent

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MyTwoCensus was originally created as the the non-partisan watchdog of the 2010 United States Census and now covers all demographics issues.